Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery Anti-Trafficking Resource Directory

Last updated November 29, 2021


I. Crisis Lines

Call to report suspicious activity or concerns. The national hotline will in-turn inform the Iowa DPS Office to Combat Human Trafficking.

Helpline Phone
Helpline Text Service
Text “HELP” to BeFree (233733)

For reports of suspected child sex trafficking.

Helpline Phone
Organization Name

Trafficking victims and survivors are assisted 24/7.

Helpline Phone
Helpline Text Service
Text "iowahelp" to 20121

II. Iowa Statewide Sources of Information

Headquartered in Ames, Iowa: The Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking & Slavery (NAHT) is Iowa’s first and only statewide volunteer organization devoted exclusively to ending trafficking in all its forms. The Iowa NAHT is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is overseen by a board of Directors (20 members) from across Iowa. There are no employees and the Iowa NAHT does not provide direct services to victims or survivors. The NAHT does not receive state funding and operates on private donations. The network’s website is the go-to place for Iowa human trafficking information, training, and volunteer opportunities. You can subscribe to receive a twice-monthly email blog post by going to the contact tab on the website.

Four statewide projects:

- Hotel/Motel Employee Training & Awareness
- Rescue Sticker Distribution and Awareness Project
- Anti-Trafficking Massage Business Project
- Demand An End Project

Network’s Mission: To coordinate Iowa’s solution to end human trafficking and slavery through coalition building, raising awareness, and promoting education and advocacy. To end human trafficking in all its forms through:

- Providing a platform for collaboration between state and local agencies
- Advocating for effective investigation, rescue, and prosecution
- Leading and coordinating public policy and legislative efforts
- Strengthening collaboration between regional groups, nonprofits, law enforcement, faith communities, and community service providers
- Raising awareness and promoting education and training
- Advocating for expansion of survivor services and best practice

Contact
Dr. George Belitsos, Board Chair

(within the Attorney General’s Office)

Contact
Jacqueline White, Training Coordinator, Victim Assistance Section
Additional Phone

Funded to develop and air statewide PSA campaign (via radio, satellite radio, and social media) instructing Iowa motorists, truck drivers, and bus drivers to recognize and call appropriate human trafficking hotlines and victim services agencies. The Iowa Truckers Against Trafficking have become a model for the rest of the country.

Truckers Against Trafficking is a leader in promoting the difference an individual can make in fighting human trafficking and in mobilizing an industry. It has an excellent video and provides trainings for truck and bus drivers. The organization also trains Iowa truck stops to make sure employees are aware of what to look for and what to do if they spot signs of trafficking.

Contact
Chief Dave Lorenzen

(within the Iowa Department of Public Safety)

Contact
Patrick Waymmire, Director of Investigative Operations
Additional Phone

The Victim Witness Services Unit for the United States Attorneys Office, Southern District of Iowa, provides services, support, and education to victims and witnesses of federal crimes. Staff is committed to ensuring that victims and witnesses are treated with fairness and respect and receive information and assistance for relevant services. Some of those services include notification of significant court events, referral to appropriate support services, reasonable protection from the accused, help determining and requesting restitution, and the return of property and information concerning the conviction, sentencing, imprisonment, and release of the offender.

Contact
Charlotte Kovacs, Victim Witness Specialist

III. Iowa Direct Service Providers and Restoration Services

(These residential programs primarily serve trafficking survivors.)

Headquartered in Davenport, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of both labor and sex trafficking covering Region 6 (SE Iowa) of the crime victim’s area map.

Service Description: Braking Traffik/Family Resources provides services as the victim needs them (trauma-informed), including housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy, while collaborating with law enforcement and other community agencies; training and public awareness around trafficking issues; and safety and well-being of victims.

Service Area: Clinton, Jackson, Louisa, Muscatine, and Scott, but will consider referrals from anywhere in eastern Iowa.

Description of Grant Funded Services:
Located in Davenport. Provides comprehensive services to victims of sex and labor trafficking. Trauma-informed services include housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy, and resources and referrals. Advocates are mobile and meet survivors where they are. Training and public awareness are also offered.

Contact
Alyse Hardin
Organization Address
Office Locations:
- 2800 Eastern Avenue, Davenport, Iowa 52803 // Phone: (563)468-2384
- 1521 47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois 61265 // Phone: (309)797-6534
- 801 Oregon Street Unit 4, Muscatine, Iowa 52761 // Phone: (563)263-0067
- 240 North Bluff Boulevard, Clinton, Iowa 52732 // Phone: (563)242-0887
Helpline Phone
Additional Contact
Ali Brokaw
Additional Email
Organization Name

Based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa: A 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides services based on our three pillars:

Awareness: Chains Interrupted provides trained speakers to present their 12 (and growing!) educational programs which include:

  • Awareness/Action (information on human trafficking for the general public)
  • General Business
  • Hotel/Motel
  • Financial Industry
  • School
  • Medical Professional
  • Mental Health Professional
  • Law Enforcement/Corrections
  • Faith Community
  • Church Safety Team
  • Trauma-Informed Care
  • Technology

The “UnChained Coalition” is a group of community members and organizations working together to identify and address the gaps that exist in community services for those victimized by human trafficking.

To schedule a speaker or become involved with the coalition, visit their website www.ChainsInterrupted.com, call the office at 319-364-0222 or email Info@chainsinterrupted.com.

Prevention: Chains Interrupted has a prevention education program (especially for vulnerable youth) and a survivor mentorship program for youth being groomed into human trafficking.

Description of Grant Funded Services:

Survivor Advocacy: Our “Beauty from Ashes Program” offers a variety of support services, including urgent care and restoration services. We offer workshops for those wanting to work through issues surrounding being a survivor of human trafficking while living in the community. Our Harbor Home is a low supervision restoration program for adult women who have been victimized by human trafficking. Please call our intake line for information on/ referral to the workshops or Harbor Home (319) 206-4417.

Service Area:
Benton, Black Hawk, Buchanan, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn, and Washington Counties

Contact
Teresa Davidson, President, Chains Interrupted and Anti-Human Trafficking Coordinator at Mercy Medical Center
Organization Address
P.O. Box 583
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406
Helpline Phone
Additional Contact
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone
Organization Name

Located in Des Moines, Iowa: Restoration home and programs for survivors of sex trafficking. Statewide referrals accepted. Programs include:

DH Restoration – Long term residential housing for women (18+) who are willing to commit to sobriety and participate in the work toward healing. The residential program is designed to teach new ways of thinking and believing about life and the world around them to create better outcomes in the future.

DH Transitions – This program is designed for participants who have completed the residential program to gradually take on more personal responsibility as they continue to gain confidence and achieve goals. Each transition subsidy is geared to the specific needs of the participant and is designed to help them reach successful independence.

DH Front Porch – Designed to provide immediate safety and long-term housing solutions to all survivor profiles (boys/men 18+, gender non-binary, adults with custody of their minor children).

Contact
Kellie Markey, Founder & Executive Director
Organization Name

Located near Pella, Iowa: Long term faith-based Restoration Home (two-year program) for girls 12-17 years of age (and 18-year-old students still in high school) who are survivors of sex trafficking. As of June 2020, Freedom House also serves young women who are survivors of labor trafficking. This long-term restoration home has 4 beds and is licensed by the Iowa Department of Human Services for service to minors is located in the Pella area. Their services include: an initial call, filling out our referral packet, their committee approving the participant, and a face-to-face meeting with required documents and signatures. Freedom House provides opportunities for medical care, counseling, life skills, education, and healing. They are staffed with house moms (12-hour shifts) and a social worker. They are not a crisis center.

Contact
Jennifer Attema, Founder & Executive Director
Additional Contact
Intake Phone Number
Additional Phone
Organization Name

Headquartered in Waverly, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of both labor and sex trafficking covering Region 3 (NE Iowa) of the crime victim’s area map.

Service Description: Friends of the Family provides services as the victim needs them (trauma-informed) that could include housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy while collaborating with community partners; training and public awareness around trafficking issues and safety and well-being of victims. The agency opened a location in Postville Iowa in December 2016.

The agency also provides mobile advocacy and goes to where the victims are located – primarily serving victims in the following counties: Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Howard, Jones, Linn, and Winneshiek.

Description of Grant Funded Services:
Located in Waverly. Provides comprehensive services to victims of sex and labor trafficking. Trauma-informed services include relocation; safety planning; shelter; counseling; medical, legal, and general advocacy; resources and referrals; crisis intervention, and support groups. Advocates are mobile and meet survivors where they are. Training and public awareness are also offered.

Service Area:
Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Howard, Jones, Linn, and Winneshiek Counties

Contact
Karen Siler, Human Trafficking Services Manager
Organization Address
PO Box 784
Waverly, Iowa 50677
Helpline Phone
Organization Name

This restoration center is in central Iowa. This faith-based 501(c)3 nonprofit program provides safe housing, restorative services, and transitional living for four sexually exploited women and their children (up to age 4). The newly remodeled facility has the potential to expand to serve up to eight women.

Contact
Brenda Long, Founder & Executive Director
Additional Contact
Lauren Gildersleeve, Development Director
Additional Phone
Organization Name

(a program of YSS)
Located in Des Moines, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of crime including sex trafficking survivors between ages 18 to 21 for males and 18 to 24 for females including those who are pregnant and parenting.

Contact
Ashley Mitchell or Elizabeth Patten
Organization Name

Located in Sioux City, Iowa: A safe house providing 24/7 restoration and healing support for adult female survivors of sex trafficking. Lila Mae’s House has a capacity for 7 women and is open for referrals for women 18+ who have been domestically sex trafficked.

Contact
Cheryl Hansen, Executive Director
Organization Address
PO Box 1281
Sioux City, IA 51102

Headquartered in Mason City, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of both labor and sex trafficking covering a portion of Region 2 (North Central Iowa) of the crime victim’s area map.

Service Description: The agency provides services as the victim needs them (trauma- informed) that could include housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy while collaborating with law enforcement and other community agencies; training and public awareness around trafficking issues; and safety and well-being of victims.

The agency provides mobile advocacy and goes to where the victims are located – primarily serving victims in the following counties: Butler, Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Humboldt, Kossuth, Mitchell, Webster, Winnebago, Worth, and Wright.

Contact
Mary Ingham
Organization Address
PO Box 656
Mason City, Iowa 50402
Organization Name

Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa: A free statewide address confidentiality program for survivors of trafficking and other violent crimes. This service to trafficking survivors is administered by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.

Service Description: Safe at Home provides a substitute legal address that survivors can use in place of their actual, physical address. The Safe at Home program forwards the mail to the survivors’ actual address. Program participants are also able to vote via absentee ballot without disclosing their physical address in the statewide voter registration system. The intent of the program is to keep survivors’ physical addresses safe. It is open to Iowa residents.

Contact
Melanie Shellenberger, Program Administrator
Organization Address
PO Box 959
Des Moines, IA 50304
Organization Name

Located in Central Iowa: This is a Christ-centered 501(c)3 nonprofit safe house with five beds providing 24/7 restoration support for healing female adult survivors of sex trafficking. Statewide referrals accepted. They have an online referral application process on their website. Wings of Refuge is in the process of remodeling a second restoration facility that will serve as a transitional living center. This new transitional living facility will have five apartments for five female survivors.

Contact
Angi Bright, Executive Director
Organization Address
PO Box 2455
Ames, IA 50010
Twitter
@for1moregirl

Locations in Ames, Boone, Marshalltown, Mason City, and Des Moines, Iowa: Provides sex trafficking prevention, awareness, diversion and residential services to children and youth. Identifies vulnerable youth through mobile street outreach, referral and self-disclosure and assists and ensures that young victims are safe and diverted from further exploitation.

Service Description: YSS provides emergency shelter for sex trafficked youth ages 12 to 17 in Ames and Mason City and restoration/transitional living services for those ages 18 to 24 in Ames, Marshalltown, and Des Moines (AKA Iowa Homeless Youth Centers). Transitional living program duration is up to 24 months. The transitional living program also provides housing and services to the client’s children.

Contact
Ruth Buckels, LMSW
Organization Address
420 Kellogg Avenue
Ames, IA 50010
Helpline Phone
Additional Contact
Business Office
Additional Phone

IV. State Grant Projects Funded by Crime Victim Assistance Division of the Attorney General’s Office

Headquartered in Davenport, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of both labor and sex trafficking covering Region 6 (SE Iowa) of the crime victim’s area map.

Service Description: Braking Traffik/Family Resources provides services as the victim needs them (trauma-informed), including housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy, while collaborating with law enforcement and other community agencies; training and public awareness around trafficking issues; and safety and well-being of victims.

Service Area: Clinton, Jackson, Louisa, Muscatine, and Scott, but will consider referrals from anywhere in eastern Iowa.

Description of Grant Funded Services:
Located in Davenport. Provides comprehensive services to victims of sex and labor trafficking. Trauma-informed services include housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy, and resources and referrals. Advocates are mobile and meet survivors where they are. Training and public awareness are also offered.

Contact
Alyse Hardin
Organization Address
Office Locations:
- 2800 Eastern Avenue, Davenport, Iowa 52803 // Phone: (563)468-2384
- 1521 47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois 61265 // Phone: (309)797-6534
- 801 Oregon Street Unit 4, Muscatine, Iowa 52761 // Phone: (563)263-0067
- 240 North Bluff Boulevard, Clinton, Iowa 52732 // Phone: (563)242-0887
Helpline Phone
Additional Contact
Ali Brokaw
Additional Email
Organization Name

Description of Grant Funded Services:
Located in Council Bluffs. Provides legal and medical advocacy; crisis counseling; groups and classes; safety planning; housing and economic advocacy; and shelter.

Service Area:
Audubon, Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby Counties

Helpline Phone
Organization Name

Based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa: A 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides services based on our three pillars:

Awareness: Chains Interrupted provides trained speakers to present their 12 (and growing!) educational programs which include:

  • Awareness/Action (information on human trafficking for the general public)
  • General Business
  • Hotel/Motel
  • Financial Industry
  • School
  • Medical Professional
  • Mental Health Professional
  • Law Enforcement/Corrections
  • Faith Community
  • Church Safety Team
  • Trauma-Informed Care
  • Technology

The “UnChained Coalition” is a group of community members and organizations working together to identify and address the gaps that exist in community services for those victimized by human trafficking.

To schedule a speaker or become involved with the coalition, visit their website www.ChainsInterrupted.com, call the office at 319-364-0222 or email Info@chainsinterrupted.com.

Prevention: Chains Interrupted has a prevention education program (especially for vulnerable youth) and a survivor mentorship program for youth being groomed into human trafficking.

Description of Grant Funded Services:

Survivor Advocacy: Our “Beauty from Ashes Program” offers a variety of support services, including urgent care and restoration services. We offer workshops for those wanting to work through issues surrounding being a survivor of human trafficking while living in the community. Our Harbor Home is a low supervision restoration program for adult women who have been victimized by human trafficking. Please call our intake line for information on/ referral to the workshops or Harbor Home (319) 206-4417.

Service Area:
Benton, Black Hawk, Buchanan, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn, and Washington Counties

Contact
Teresa Davidson, President, Chains Interrupted and Anti-Human Trafficking Coordinator at Mercy Medical Center
Organization Address
P.O. Box 583
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406
Helpline Phone
Additional Contact
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone
Organization Name

Headquartered in Waverly, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of both labor and sex trafficking covering Region 3 (NE Iowa) of the crime victim’s area map.

Service Description: Friends of the Family provides services as the victim needs them (trauma-informed) that could include housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy while collaborating with community partners; training and public awareness around trafficking issues and safety and well-being of victims. The agency opened a location in Postville Iowa in December 2016.

The agency also provides mobile advocacy and goes to where the victims are located – primarily serving victims in the following counties: Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Howard, Jones, Linn, and Winneshiek.

Description of Grant Funded Services:
Located in Waverly. Provides comprehensive services to victims of sex and labor trafficking. Trauma-informed services include relocation; safety planning; shelter; counseling; medical, legal, and general advocacy; resources and referrals; crisis intervention, and support groups. Advocates are mobile and meet survivors where they are. Training and public awareness are also offered.

Service Area:
Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Howard, Jones, Linn, and Winneshiek Counties

Contact
Karen Siler, Human Trafficking Services Manager
Organization Address
PO Box 784
Waverly, Iowa 50677
Helpline Phone

V. Minority, Culturally-Specific, Refugee, and Immigrant Survivor Services

These agencies are a good resource for survivors of trafficking who face cultural and/or language barriers. These agencies also serve victims of labor trafficking, and are good resources for information and training on labor trafficking. The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants is now federally funded for service to trafficking survivors. The last resource is an attorney serving Chinese survivors of sex and labor trafficking.

Organization Name

With offices in Des Moines, Iowa City, and Ames, this law firm has extensive experience representing minority defendants, particularly those who speak only Chinese, who are victims of human trafficking. The firm is recognized for its immigration services.

Organization Address
2213 Grand Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50312

This organization’s mission is to cultivate a safe, informed, and empowered community for individuals with any type of hearing loss by providing culturally competent and fully accessible services, advocacy, and education.

Contact
Jennifer Upah-Kyes, Executive Director
Helpline Phone

The mission of LUNA is to empower, educate, and advocate for victims/survivors of sex and labor trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault, so that they may build futures free from violence and exploitation. Trafficking and domestic violence impact all communities and are a serious problem. However, each community is unique and has different barriers. The staff at LUNA are knowledgeable on the barriers that Latinx survivors face, including legal status, language, and lack of resources. LUNA works alongside the survivor to educate them on the various systems (legal, court, law enforcement, etc) and empower them to make their own decisions about their healing process using a client centered and trauma informed approach.

Contact
Melissa Cano-Zelaya, Executive Director
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone

Monsoon’s mission is to end all forms of gender-based violence and build healthy communities through transformative justice and social change. The organization functions as a resource, advocate, and support for members of Iowa’s API population affected by domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking by providing crisis advocacy; individual and group counseling; assistance involving law enforcement; legal advocacy; court accompaniment; medical suport and advocacy; assistance with housing, education, employment and government benefit applications; information and referrals; a community resource center; community outreach and education; youth internships; and youth programming.

Contact
Mira Yousef, Executive Director
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone

NISAA African Family Service’s mission is to end sex and labor trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault in African Immigrant and Refugee communities by promoting the social, economic, and political self-determination of all women. The organization seeks to build healthy communities through transformative justice and social change.

Contact
Hibo Jama, Executive Director
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone

This organization serves refugees and immigrants statewide with a vast array of services. Major federal grant funding provides an attorney and direct service case manager to immigrants and refugees who have been sex or labor trafficked. The Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Service (TAPS) has staff with extensive victim-centered advocacy experience.

Contact
Jessie Johnson, TAPS Outreach Coordinator
Organization Address
1200 University Avenue, Suite 205
Des Moines, IA 50314
Additional Contact
Kerri True-Funk, Executive Director
Additional Phone
Additional Email

VI. Iowa Domestic Abuse Service Agencies & Adult Shelters

No resources found.

VII. Iowa Prevention and Education Human Trafficking Projects

One of the best defenses against human trafficking and slavery is education. Many people who are enslaved are tricked into it. Violence comes only after trickery has given the traffickers or slaveholder control. This is an ancient method for enslaving people. Four hundred years ago, slavers on the West African coast offered free food and a free trip to a fabulous paradise to the local people. The reality, once on board the slave ship, was brutality and enslavement. Around the world today, “recruiters” hold out the chance of a good job to the economically desperate or designer clothes or commodities to impressionable youngsters – the hoax revealed once they have taken control of people’s lives. The con men of trafficking and slavery know exactly how to lure the vulnerable into slavery. But against this deception a little education goes a long way

All the direct service providers listed under Section III Iowa Survivor Restoration Services also provide education and awareness services. Contact the program closest to your community for speakers.

Headquartered in Ames, Iowa: The Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking & Slavery (NAHT) is Iowa’s first and only statewide volunteer organization devoted exclusively to ending trafficking in all its forms. The Iowa NAHT is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is overseen by a board of Directors (20 members) from across Iowa. There are no employees and the Iowa NAHT does not provide direct services to victims or survivors. The NAHT does not receive state funding and operates on private donations. The network’s website is the go-to place for Iowa human trafficking information, training, and volunteer opportunities. You can subscribe to receive a twice-monthly email blog post by going to the contact tab on the website.

Four statewide projects:

- Hotel/Motel Employee Training & Awareness
- Rescue Sticker Distribution and Awareness Project
- Anti-Trafficking Massage Business Project
- Demand An End Project

Network’s Mission: To coordinate Iowa’s solution to end human trafficking and slavery through coalition building, raising awareness, and promoting education and advocacy. To end human trafficking in all its forms through:

- Providing a platform for collaboration between state and local agencies
- Advocating for effective investigation, rescue, and prosecution
- Leading and coordinating public policy and legislative efforts
- Strengthening collaboration between regional groups, nonprofits, law enforcement, faith communities, and community service providers
- Raising awareness and promoting education and training
- Advocating for expansion of survivor services and best practice

Contact
Dr. George Belitsos, Board Chair

Provide education and training and database creation to track at-risk kids making contact with members of the MDT teams showing human trafficking indicators.

Contact
Nikki Romer, Forensic Interviewer

Funded to develop and air statewide PSA campaign (via radio, satellite radio, and social media) instructing Iowa motorists, truck drivers, and bus drivers to recognize and call appropriate human trafficking hotlines and victim services agencies. The Iowa Truckers Against Trafficking have become a model for the rest of the country.

Truckers Against Trafficking is a leader in promoting the difference an individual can make in fighting human trafficking and in mobilizing an industry. It has an excellent video and provides trainings for truck and bus drivers. The organization also trains Iowa truck stops to make sure employees are aware of what to look for and what to do if they spot signs of trafficking.

Contact
Chief Dave Lorenzen

The Iowa LEA provides onsite training for newly hired law enforcement officers on how to recognize and investigate trafficking. The LEA also provides off site training upon request to local police and sheriff’s departments as well as anti-trafficking community groups.

Organization Address
P.O. Box 130
Camp Dodge, Johnston, IA 50131
Organization Name

The primary focus of this program is to prevent LGBTQ+ youth from being groomed by online traffickers. Anti-trafficking advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are utilized to increase awareness of this issue. Information about educational events is provided as well. Iowa Safe Schools also hands out Specialized Pride Packs that focus on human trafficking at Iowa Pride Events.

Contact
Nate Monson

The Partnership for a Healthy Iowa offers free educational resources developed under the supervision of Iowa educators and Iowa State University as part of the Iowa Digital Literacy and Wellness project.

Contact
Peter Komendowski, Executive Director
Instagram
@ahealthyiowa
Organization Name

Spread Your Wings, LLC “Saving Lives, Empowering Youth.”

Based in Ankeny, IA

Spread Your Wings is a 501c (3) organization that has the mission to be proactive, empowering, and preventative to save youth from “bad guys/women.”

The main program is S.A.V.E. Kids. (Self Defense Against Violence & Exploitation.) The program focuses on empowering students between ages 9-14 to defend, prevent, and save themselves from abduction, all types of violence, exploitation, and human trafficking. 2-hour Classes are included as part of the regular educational curriculum. Free to schools and students.

We not only teach physical self-defense skills but educate students on every aspect of abduction, trafficking and exploitation: we follow up with fifteen 5-minute weekly lessons that include a review of safety awareness strategies, reminders of the tricks and lures used by the bad guys, a self-defense skill to practice, and empowerment strategies. We help students become courageous, improve their self-esteem, and realize their value and worth.

Spread Your Wings also has a Youth Center offering programs for youth recovering from trauma, families dealing with violence between children/ bullying, empowerment camps for teens, and
programming to help improve the mental health of youth ages 5-18 years old.

We also offer speaker services.

Service Area: Iowa

Contact: Amy Ratekin, Founder/Executive Director Spread Your Wings, LLC

Organization Address/YOUTH CENTER ADDRESS:
10200 NE Frisk Dr Ankeny, IA 50023
Ankeny, Iowa 50021

Phone: (515) 202-5287

Email:  amy@iowaspirittkd.com

Website: https://spreadurwings.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spreadyourwingsyouth

Contact
Amy Ratekin

All parents face challenges in keeping their children safe online. However, single parents must work twice as hard to keep their households running, which can make internet safety a difficult priority to keep while juggling other parental duties. This is a guide to help single parents.

Through the program known as Teens Against Human Trafficking (TAHT), YSS provided in school—youth to youth—educational and referral opportunities. TAHT now has downloadable resources at their website for students to access.

YSS continues to provide statewide Achieving Maximum Potential (AMP) as well Iowa Foster Care Youth Councils with anti-trafficking education, information, and awareness. YSS continues to provide awareness programming to community groups and law enforcement at conferences.

Contact
Ruth Buckels, AMP and Iowa Foster Care Youth Council Statewide Coordinator
Additional Contact
Terri Bailey, Assistant AMP Coordinator
Additional Email
Organization Name

This nonprofit organization provides prevention education to schools and communities in Iowa. The education program empowers youth to value themselves and others and protect themselves and others from trafficking and social media dangers. They also empower adults to protect youth in these same areas.

Contact Information: Stephanie Olson
Office Phone: (402) 521-3080
Additional Phone

VIII. National and International Resources

Call to report suspicious activity or concerns. The national hotline will in-turn inform the Iowa DPS Office to Combat Human Trafficking.

Helpline Phone
Helpline Text Service
Text “HELP” to BeFree (233733)

A21

Organization Name

A21 is an international anti-trafficking non-profit organization of modern day abolitionists. Their mission is to free slaves and disrupt the demand. A21 has 17 locations across the globe including: Australia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and four sites in the United States.

The Network has discovered a publication entitled “Anti-Trafficking Review Journal”. The April 2021 issue focuses on Trafficking in Minors, and is 164 pages. The authors are from across the world. The 10 articles in this latest issue are from around the globe. The journal is published quarterly, and the September 2021 issue will focus on Anti-Trafficking Education.

ACAMS is the largest international membership organization for Anti-Financial Crime Professionals. Recently, ACAMS and the FAST initiative teamed up and developed a free course to help fight modern slavery and human trafficking. The course is self-paced and online. Once you complete the course and take a test you will receive a training certificate. This course will show you new ways to identify financial footprints of modern slavery through transactions analysis, red flags, and key indicators.

Organization Name

Bikers Against Trafficking attempt to educate motorcycle enthusiasts to recognize and report suspicions of human trafficking. Their goal is awareness and education.

A collaboration of 11 pioneering cities committed to combating sex trafficking by reducing the demand for buying sex by 20 percent in two years.

Organization Name

A global network of organizations working to end child prostitution, child pornography, and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

The End Slavery Now Slave-Free Buying guide is meant to introduce customers to companies and brands that address slavery, forced labor, and human trafficking in their supply chain.

Legal services provided by a two-year fellowship (7/2018 – 6/2020) serving only victims of labor or sex trafficking in Iowa. There are no income requirements to qualify for legal services. The fellowship serves adult and minor victims, citizens and non-citizens statewide.

Contact
Lauren Camp, Justice Corps Attorney
Organization Name

The mission of Fairtrade International is to connect disadvantaged producers and consumers, promote fairer trading conditions and empower producers to combat poverty, strengthen their position and take more control over their lives.

Fairtrade International believes that trade can be a fundamental driver of poverty reduction and greater sustainable development, but only if it is managed for that purpose, with greater equity and transparency than is currently the norm. They believe that people can overcome disadvantage and marginalization if they are empowered to take more control over their work and their lives, if they are better organized, resourced and supported, and can secure access to mainstream markets under fair trading conditions.

Freedom Network USA claims to be the largest and most comprehensive national coalition of those serving human trafficking survivors in the United States. This is a professional membership organization and charges $150 for individual memberships and $300 for organizational memberships. Members are asked to commit to working with other providers to create a strong and unified voice that is informed by survivors that they serve in order to influence federal and state policy and provide training and technical assistance.

Organization Name

The world’s largest community dedicated to ending human trafficking and modern slavery. They mobilize by engaging the public stakeholders in many different countries. They equip millions of supporters with awareness, education, and ways to take action that drives real change.

The Global Slavery Index is a project of the Minderoo Foundation which is based in Australia. They have a team of over 25 employees across seven locations and the Slavery Index is one of 7 major global initiatives. The Global Index is developed by the Walk Free team. They also have an investor tool kit (see link below). This tool kit is designed to help businesses and investors take action to improve human rights standards in their supply chains and combat forced labor, human trafficking, and other forms of modern slavery. In March 2020, the Minderoo Foundation conducted a study entitled “Combatting Human Trafficking since Palermo: What Do We Know about What Works?”, in which they evaluate projects and outcomes. Here is a link to the journal article: Human Trafficking “What Works” Study. This is an excellent resource.

HEAL Trafficking is an organization of multidisciplinary professionals and over 3,000 survivors in 35 countries dedicated to ending human trafficking and supporting its survivors from a public health perspective. You may join the network if you are a survivor or a professional healthcare worker. There is no fee for becoming a member. They have an excellent e-newsletter and training. Their mission is to globalize a shift in anti-trafficking services toward approaches rooted in public health and trauma-informed care.

TOURISM CHILD PROTECTION CODE OF CONDUCT (The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism) (www.thecode.org) (www.ecpatusa.org/code)

For articles on what the hospitality industry is doing to fight human trafficking, search for “human trafficking” at: http://www.travelweekly.com

Headquartered in Manchester, England: This global organization, which operates on four continents, employs a strategy based on preventing exploitation, rescuing victims, restoring lives, and reforming society.

Contact
Ed LeMieux, Executive Director
Organization Address
U.S. Office:
P.O. Box 280365
Nashville, TN 37228

The hospitality industry has a code of conduct for the protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism.

Organization Name

The HTC is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization committed to using academic rigor and transparency, sound methodology, and reliable data to understand forced labor and human trafficking. Their aim is to provide research that improves inter-organizational cooperation and accountability, influences anti-trafficking policy, and raises public awareness about the problem. They also partner with academics, students, legislators, NGOs, and international organizations to provide the public balanced information about human trafficking. The HTC is housed within the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and is comprised of M.A. candidates and faculty. This research center has a series on forced labor and fair trade standards.

Organization Name

In Our Backyard is a nonprofit based in Central Oregon that links arms across America in the fight against trafficking. Their focus is prevention and education, and they have collaborated with many states by providing training for social service agencies, schools, faith communities, etc. IOB believes that awareness is the critical first step in ending human trafficking.

Organization Name

The mission of Love146 is to end child trafficking and exploitation worldwide. They provide prevention and education services along with their survivor care program.

Organization Address
U.S. Address:
P.O. Box 8266
New Haven, CT 06530
Website

The nation’s clearinghouse and comprehensive reporting center for missing children and issues related to the prevention of and recovery from child victimization.

Internet Safety Programs:
www.netSmartz.org
www.netSmartzkids.org

June is Internet Safety Month.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health crisis of pornography. As the thread of pornography in the web of sexual exploitation is systemically overlooked by society, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has prominently advanced this issue as a central pillar of its projects in order to promote more holistic solutions.

This organization produces public service announcements and radio ads that are broadcast nationally. They are focused on keeping children safe, especially from internet traffickers. The key to their platform is the students who through peer to peer communications are empowered to stop the predator in their own environment.
Students have a voice and PACT provides them a platform to bring an end to child trafficking by raising awareness, preventing victimization, and reducing demand.

Organization Name

The Polaris Project operates the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) and its hotline which is used throughout the United States as the central number to call for help, leave tips, and get information on human trafficking. Their resources include numerous online trainings and print information on human trafficking for individuals and various groups (including law enforcement), legislative advocacy (state and national), case information, and more, all of which can be found at traffickingresourcecenter.org.

Organization Name

Works at preventing sex trafficking in North and South America. Training materials are available.

RAGAS raises awareness that millions are held captive and illegally forced to work for commercial gain. The organization encourages its communities to participate in local education projects which help to prevent vulnerable children, youth, and adults from becoming modern day slaves. Its board leaders are Rotarians in Australia, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, The Philippines, The United Kingdom, and The United States.

Contact
Iowa Contact Information: Dr. George Belitsos, Iowa RAGAS Coordinator
Organization Name

Shared Hope provides major national anti-trafficking conferences and training. The organization strives to prevent the conditions that foster sex trafficking, to restore victims of sex slavery, and to bring justice to vulnerable women and children. They support 14 freedom and restoration projects in the United States and around the world. Their demand reduction effort is found at sharedhope.org/join-the-cause.

Organization Name

The mission of The Freedom Fund is to mobilise the knowledge, capital and will needed to end slavery. The organization identifies and invests in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate modern slavery in the countries and sectors where it is most prevalent. Partnering with visionary investors, governments, anti-slavery organisations and those at risk of exploitation, The Freedom Fund tackles the systems that allow slavery to persist and thrive. Working together, they protect vulnerable populations, liberate and reintegrate those enslaved and prosecute those responsible.

Headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia: The Human Trafficking Legal Center (HT Legal) empowers courageous survivors of labor and sex trafficking to seek justice. The center provides human trafficking survivors who seek legal representation with access to highly-skilled, pro bono attorneys. HT Legal spearheads national efforts to hold human traffickers accountable for their crimes and raise awareness of victims’ rights. The center works to obtain criminal convictions, criminal restitution, and civil judgments against traffickers. It also conducts groundbreaking research on trafficking and mandatory criminal restitution, informing public policy and influencing federal reform. With pro bono legal assistance, trafficking survivors can rebuild their lives.

Contact
Martina Vandenberg, National Director
Organization Name

The NO Project is an award-winning global educational anti-slavery campaign that specifically targets youth awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking through film, music, art, dance, theater, journalism, education, and social media. Their approach is based on the principle that education includes global citizenship, ethical decision-making, and protection. The NO Project offers free downloadable teaching material on human trafficking and modern slavery. This material is primarily for older teens. The NO Project values the power and skills of young people to join the fight against trafficking.

Website
Organization Name

Thorn is a nonprofit anti-trafficking organization founded by actor and Iowa native Ashton Kutcher. The organization has been a leader in the worldwide fight against human trafficking since its founding in 2011. Kutcher’s foundation has developed software known as “Spotlight” which is being used by many urban police departments to uncover human trafficking on the internet. Spotlight is also utilized by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Thorn is applauded as the “Digital Defender of Children.”

Produces training materials related to human trafficking for health care and social service providers, and law enforcement officers. They provide a series of webinars for health care providers, behavioral health professionals and social workers called SOAR.

Their anti-human trafficking program is called the Blue Campaign. DHS is responsible for investigating human trafficking and protecting victims. They also provide some immigration relief to foreign born victims of human trafficking. They coordinate human trafficking efforts with other government agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Their training materials include a large number of resources for law enforcement.

The TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Office leads the Department’s global efforts to combat human trafficking through the prosecution of traffickers, the protection of victims, and the prevention of human trafficking by: objectively analyzing government efforts and identifying global trends, engaging in and supporting strategic bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, targeting foreign assistance to build sustainable capacity of governments and civil society, advancing the coordination of federal anti-trafficking policies across agencies, managing and leveraging operational resources to achieve strategic priorities, and engaging and partnering with civil society, the private sector, and the public to advance the fight against human trafficking.

Instagram
@trafficking_in_persons_state
Twitter
@JTIP_State

Survivor engagement is a central tenet of the federal government’s approach to establishing effective anti-trafficking strategies that address prosecution, protection, and prevention. Survivors’ voices are important in shaping policy, and the federal government is committed to supporting leadership development of survivor leaders.

USIAHT is a national organization focused on ending trafficking in the United States and is dedicated to educating American citizens and legislators, disrupt sex trade, consolidate efforts for maximum effect, and partner with other organizations in this fight. They work in conjunction with federal, state, and local government officials who influence policy on ending trafficking in the United States. This is a faith-based organization that is very well known for launching its Abolitionist Project in 2020 (see link below). Their community based strategy is to end human trafficking by establishing trafficking free zones. The organization has offices in Florida, California, Texas, Nevada, and it’s headquarters in Washington D.C.

The Victim Witness Services Unit for the United States Attorneys Office, Southern District of Iowa, provides services, support, and education to victims and witnesses of federal crimes. Staff is committed to ensuring that victims and witnesses are treated with fairness and respect and receive information and assistance for relevant services. Some of those services include notification of significant court events, referral to appropriate support services, reasonable protection from the accused, help determining and requesting restitution, and the return of property and information concerning the conviction, sentencing, imprisonment, and release of the offender.

Contact
Charlotte Kovacs, Victim Witness Specialist
Organization Name

You Can Free Us is an international human rights organization that is fighting modern slavery around the world through advocacy, rescue, and rehabilitation. The organization is based in Texas; however, it has programs throughout the world. Founded in 2010, You Can Free Us has quickly grown. They have safe houses, training centers, and intervention hubs in seven countries. Their prevention strategies are contained in a 2020 book called Libertas.

IX. Business, Industry, and Professions

The American Hotel & Lodging Association has launched a national campaign to get all hotel and motel employees trained nationwide. On August 13th, 2019, the “No Room For Trafficking” Campaign was kicked off with a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa led by Chip Rodgers, the CEO of the AHLA.

BEST was created to keep children and vulnerable people safe from human traffickers. BEST raises awareness about how employers can help stop human trafficking. BEST consults on best practices and provides model policies for employers. BEST trains employees to implement best practices and stop exploitation before it happens. BEST enables employers to provide jobs for survivors of trafficking and people considered at-risk.

HEAL Trafficking is an organization of multidisciplinary professionals and over 3,000 survivors in 35 countries dedicated to ending human trafficking and supporting its survivors from a public health perspective. You may join the network if you are a survivor or a professional healthcare worker. There is no fee for becoming a member. They have an excellent e-newsletter and training. Their mission is to globalize a shift in anti-trafficking services toward approaches rooted in public health and trauma-informed care.

TOURISM CHILD PROTECTION CODE OF CONDUCT (The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism) (www.thecode.org) (www.ecpatusa.org/code)

For articles on what the hospitality industry is doing to fight human trafficking, search for “human trafficking” at: http://www.travelweekly.com

Funded to develop and air statewide PSA campaign (via radio, satellite radio, and social media) instructing Iowa motorists, truck drivers, and bus drivers to recognize and call appropriate human trafficking hotlines and victim services agencies. The Iowa Truckers Against Trafficking have become a model for the rest of the country.

Truckers Against Trafficking is a leader in promoting the difference an individual can make in fighting human trafficking and in mobilizing an industry. It has an excellent video and provides trainings for truck and bus drivers. The organization also trains Iowa truck stops to make sure employees are aware of what to look for and what to do if they spot signs of trafficking.

Contact
Chief Dave Lorenzen

Provides a variety of information on Child labor and Forced labor, including a free app for iPhones and Androids called “Comply Chain” which provides businesses with tools for Labor Compliance in Global Supply Chains. A similar online tool can be found at: www.dol.gov/ilab/complychain/.

Provides a List of “Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor:" www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/pdf/TVPRA_Report2014.pdf

X. Anti-Trafficking Special Projects

Organization Name

The Iowa NAHT is providing Rescue Stickers statewide with both the national and Iowa human trafficking hotline numbers. The stickers are primarily placed in convenience stores, transportation centers, hotels, truck stops, etc., always with the permission of the management. As of January 1st, 2020, 10,000 stickers have been posted by volunteers and advocates in Iowa. As of April 1, 2020, the NAHT now has a Spanish-language Rescue Sticker. If you or your organization would like to volunteer to distribute Rescue Stickers please visit our Iowa Brochures and Posters page, scroll down, and click on the Volunteer Distribution and Posting Instructions document.


English Language Version
English Language Version

Spanish Language Version
Spanish Language Version

The Iowa NAHT asks anti-trafficking coalitions and advocates to approach local law enforcement and city councils to pass ordinances to regulate local massage businesses. Nationwide, there are over 9000 illicit businesses practicing under the guise of massage therapy. Ordinances allow law enforcement to ensure that there are no illicit activities such as prostitution and trafficking in local massage parlors.

Contact
Dr. George Belitsos

This statewide project is a joint venture of the Iowa NAHT and the Nebraska Coalition on Human Trafficking. The Hotel/Motel Employee Training Project recruits community volunteers to attend a three hour Train the Trainers program. Each trained volunteer is asked to provide training to a minimum of three hotels/motels. Four regional anti-trafficking coalitions lead local project efforts covering all sections of Iowa with the exception of Southern Iowa.

Contact
Dr. George Belitsos
Organization Name

Offers free bags of red sand for groups or individuals to use to fill in cracks in sidewalks or parking lots to remind people of the most vulnerable among us who may become victims of human trafficking, and that they aren’t to be walked on or let to fall through the cracks. Other artistic installations are also encouraged.

Started by Theresa Flores, a trafficking survivor, S.O.A.P. has community volunteers provide bars of soap with the human trafficking hotline number on the label, to motels/hotels with a large risk of trafficking, especially during certain large sporting events.

The founder and driving force behind Break the Cycle is Mark “Rocky” Vest, who received an Outstanding Anti-Trafficking Service Award from the NAHT on January 16th, 2020. Held annually in Iowa and raises funds to fight human trafficking. Last year, the 200 mile one day bike ride raised nearly $100,000. Since the first Break the Cycle 200 ride in 2011, over $750,000 has been raised and donated to nonprofit prevention projects, rescue services, and survivor restoration programs.

XI. Anti-Labor Trafficking Products

Organization Name

An Iowa-based group that has partnered with an Ethiopian nonprofit that rescues and provides a home for children rescued from trafficking. The children produce beautiful scarves which are sold in Iowa through Beza Threads.

Organization Name

A fair trade organization whose craftspeople are survivors of sex trafficking. They make jute bags and organic cotton tee shirts.

Organization Name

Provides crafts from around the world for groups and individuals. Some are made by survivors of human trafficking (search for human trafficking on the website).

Organization Name

Shows some of the things you may own that have been produced by forced labor.

Organization Name

Works to help consumers become aware of the conditions of garment workers around the world and to help them take personal and social actions.

Provides a variety of information on Child labor and Forced labor, including a free app for iPhones and Androids called “Comply Chain” which provides businesses with tools for Labor Compliance in Global Supply Chains. A similar online tool can be found at: www.dol.gov/ilab/complychain/.

Provides a List of “Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor:" www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/pdf/TVPRA_Report2014.pdf

XII. Faith Communities – National

Organization Name

The center supports the statewide efforts of the Iowa NAHT and is listed as an ally. The Sisters began their fight against human trafficking in 2015, and now lead the Tri-State Coalition Against Trafficking. In September of 2018, they launched the Eastern Iowa Hotel/Motel Project Against Human Trafficking.

Organization Name

Includes a link to “A Social Message on Commercial Sexual Exploitation.” It also has many links to human trafficking resources, which includes, among other things, a six session Lenten Bible Study on Trafficking and a seven session program designed for young people.

Organization Name

Has resources, including “Seven Days of Prayer and Action to End Human Trafficking” and a Red Hand Project addressing the problem of Child Soldiers.

A collaborative, faith-based national network that offers education, supports access to survivor services, and engages in advocacy in an effort to eradicate modern-day slavery. It is comprised of congregations of religious women, coalitions working against human trafficking in which religious women participate, individual sisters, lay associate members of congregations, etc.

Organization Name

Have several resources for downloading.

Offers the Become a Shepherd (Stop Human trafficking and Exploitation, Protect and Help, Empower and Restore Dignity) toolkit online which can be used in parishes and faith groups. This toolkit can be ordered for free by email (see below).

USCCB MRS works primarily with international trafficking and training. The USCCB also has a St. Josephine Bakhita Prayer card. St Josephine was herself a slave.

XIII. Iowa and National Reports

The Iowa DPS has issued its 2020 annual report. They include some statistics in the annual report from the national hotline and from Iowa law enforcement agencies. 

DPS has also developed a human trafficking page on their website, which includes a link to the annual report.

Publishes excellent reports and fact sheets. Some recent reports include:

Domestic Violence and Trafficking Fact Sheet: www.htlegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Human-Trafficking-and-Domestic-Violence

Human Trafficking and Health Care Professionals Fact Sheet: www.htlegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Medical-Fact-Sheet-Human-Trafficking

Trafficking of Persons with Disabilities Fact Sheet: www.htlegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Trafficking-of-Persons-with-Disabilities

Mandatory Restitution and Human Trafficking: http://www.htlegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/mandatory.pdf

The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is the U.S. Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking. It is also the world’s most comprehensive resource of governmental anti-trafficking efforts and reflects the U.S. Government’s commitment to global leadership on this key human rights and law enforcement issue.

Report from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, Crime Victims Assistance Division.

Organization Name

The Vera Institute has developed a Trafficking Victim Identification Tool and Guide which gives victim service providers, law enforcement, legal, healthcare, and social service providers a standard means of identifying victims of human trafficking and a tool for building trust and maintaining confidentiality.

XIV. Documentaries

Organization Name

The Department of Justice estimates that there are 300,000 children at risk of being trafficked into sexual slavery in the U.S. In the first episode of A Path Appears, we meet the survivors behind these numbers.

Organization Name

Any Kid Anywhere: Iowa Sex Trafficking Survivor Stories is an excellent DVD produced and distributed by Braking Traffik. The NAHT also loans out copies of the DVD. This is a short, but effective, 17 minute interview with three Iowa female survivors who were lured into sex trafficking while in their teens. Anyone who doubts that Iowa youth are being trafficked needs to watch this DVD. The true accounts of survival send a message of hope and provide a sobering cautionary tale that may help other Iowa youth avoid victimization.

Contact
Contact NAHT to borrow the DVD
Organization Name

Learn the shocking true story of two teen girls tricked by traffickers. Brianna, 18, was a star student, cheerleader and waitress eager to break out of her small town to attend college in the big city. Lacy, 13, enjoyed church and school but struggled to help care for her siblings while her stepfather was deployed and mother worked to support the family. Brianna and Lacy share how traffickers used manipulation to lure them into the world of sex trafficking.

Organization Name

Gridshock is a documentary exposing the hidden and disturbing reality behind sex trafficking in Iowa and the often-overlooked reality about why the industry thrives—because there is a demand for it. Vanessa McNeal’s film features survivors of sex trafficking, local and federal law enforcement, advocates, politicians, and a recovering sex addict. What you think you know about sex trafficking will be challenged. Gridshock is now available online everywhere! This is the fourth, and most recent film by filmmaker Vanessa McNeal. Donations of $45,000 funded this 55 minute film. Vanessa recently received the 2019 Outstanding Human Trafficking Service Award from the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery. The award was presented by Governor Kim Reynolds on January 17, 2019 on behalf of the Iowa NAHT.

Organization Name

Hidden in the Heartland is a 14-minute film created by students in the Department of Journalism and Communication at Wartburg College for their capstone project. The film explores sex-trafficking in Iowa.

Organization Name

This documentary follows the journey of young survivors who were advertised on Backpage.com as their families engage in a legal battle not only with Backpage but with judges, special interest groups, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, an internet freedom law that provides a safe haven for website publishers to advertise underage girls for sex.

Organization Name

This is an unvarnished and grim look at the world of sex trafficking. This film is a fictional description of one young girl’s experience. The producers interviewed many different trafficking victims and the main character in the film, Layla, is a composite of those victims. I Am Still Here is available on Amazon Prime.

Organization Name

We can’t change the world with only ideas in our minds; we need conviction in our hearts to fight trafficking. Hopelessness is the enemy of justice. Just Mercy can be found on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Nefarious exposes the nightmare of sex slavery as experienced by hundreds of thousands daily, through the eyes of both the enslaved and their traffickers. Nefarious features expert analysis from international humanitarian leaders, and captures the gripping and triumphant testimonies of survivors in order to galvanize hope and vision.

Organization Name

Filmed on five continents, in a dozen countries, Not My Life takes viewers into a world where millions of children are exploited, every day, through and astonishing array of practices including forced labor, domestic servitude, begging, sex tourism, sexual violence, and child soldiering.

Organization Name

Caged No More, Finding Home, Your Photo Fate on YouTube by Zhao.

Organization Name

Meet the pimps, the johns, the police, the parents, and the victims of America's thriving sex trade in Tricked, a comprehensive documentary that uncovers America's dirty secret.

XV. Books

By Rachel Lloyd. “Rachel Lloyd’s riveting survivor story is the true tale of her hard-won escape from the commercial sex industry and her bold founding of GEMS, New York City’s Girls Education and Mentoring Service, to help countless other young girls escape ‘the life'” – Amazon.

By the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

This 70-page book in PDF format serves as a guide to fight human trafficking. The Table of Contents contains the Guiding Principles passed by the UN and sections such as prosecution, protection/assistance, prevention, national coordination/cooperation, and international coordination/cooperation. Link: https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Framework_for_Action_TIP.pdf

Libertas is a 361-page educational tool which delivers innovative ways to fight modern slavery. This book promotes systematic prevention strategies with work plans and educational programs that can be used with school-aged children. The book believes that education can play a key role in the eradication of modern slavery. These programs have already been implemented in schools, corporations, and prisons.

Organization Name

The White Umbrella by Mary Frances Bowely, The Natashas and the Johns, by Victor Malarek, Your Brain on Porn by Gary Wilson, Stretched Beyond Measure—When the Angels Were Crying by Dorsey Jones.

By Rachel Moran, a woman who became homeless at age 14. She was driven into prostitution to survive. Moran writes about the psychological damage and estrangement from one’s body that is experienced as a result of sex trafficking. She did not escape until age 22.

By Linda Smith and Cindy Coloma. “…Author Linda Smith brings to life characters based on real stories and interviews with teen survivors. Meet Lacy and Star as they reveal the underbelly of our country’s commercial sex trade. Get to know the men who sell them, and the ones who buy them. Let Renting Lacy draw you into the lives of these young girls as they struggle to survive each night, watching their childhood hopes and dreams slip away in the darkness…” – Amazon.

Organization Name

By Dan Barry. In 2009 in Atalissa, Iowa, a group of mentally disabled men were labor trafficked in a turkey processing plant. In 2013, a jury awarded the victims 240 million dollars as a result of the charges brought against Henry’s Turkey Service.

Organization Name

By Rena Olsen, an Iowa author. “In this powerful psychological suspense debut, when a woman’s life is shattered, she is faced with a devastating question: What if everything she thought was normal and good and true… wasn’t?” – Amazon.

By Holly Austin Smith. “In Walking Prey, advocate and former victim Holly Austin Smith shows how middle class suburban communities are fast becoming the new epicenter of sex trafficking in America. Smith speaks from experience: Without consistent positive guidance or engagement, Holly was ripe for exploitation at age fourteen. A chance encounter with an older man led her to run away from home, and she soon found herself on the streets of Atlantic City” – Amazon.

XVI. School Curricula

Educators often have very specific expectations for their curriculum development, and it varies according to the age of the students and the type of educational institution involved. The curriculum goals may be focused on prevention, identification, intervention, or treatment. Generally, schools will want to be able to identify the reasons for the training, and then identify the curriculum goals and the content of the teaching. Several other states have developed robust curricula, either independently focused on schools or jointly developed with other organizations. If the teachers in Iowa don’t want to reinvent the wheel in developing their own curricula, here are some suggestions from other states.

Organization Name

Protect with a philosophy. “An educated child is a protected child.”

Organization Name

They have courses and curriculum that can be downloaded free in 12 languages. More than 1,000 organizations and individuals in 65 countries have registered to download this powerful prevention program. Willing to translate into other languages.

Organization Name

Lists quite a number of universities and high schools participating in a student awareness program.

Organization Name

The Just Ask Prevention Project works to educate youth and adults about the signs of human trafficking to keep our teenagers safe. We Educate. We Prevent. We Intervene. Materials available in French, Spanish, Dutch as well as English.

Organization Name

The mission of Love146 is to end child trafficking and exploitation worldwide. They provide prevention and education services along with their survivor care program.

Organization Address
U.S. Address:
P.O. Box 8266
New Haven, CT 06530
Website
Organization Name

Provides a website with links to resources focused on educators.

Organization Name

Includes youth program development guidance.

Organization Name

Focused on trafficking, with links to other sources online.

Organization Name

The NO Project is an award-winning global educational anti-slavery campaign that specifically targets youth awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking through film, music, art, dance, theater, journalism, education, and social media. Their approach is based on the principle that education includes global citizenship, ethical decision-making, and protection. The NO Project offers free downloadable teaching material on human trafficking and modern slavery. This material is primarily for older teens. The NO Project values the power and skills of young people to join the fight against trafficking.

Website
Organization Name

The Prevention Project™ program believes that in order to eradicate human trafficking, the selling of human beings for profit, we must educate young people on the lures of trafficking and invest in character and leadership development. The Prevention Project curriculum not only prevents human trafficking, but also equips student leaders to bring a lasting change for our schools, communities, and beyond.

“Foreign assistance targets both sex trafficking and labour trafficking through implementation of the “3P” paradigm of Prevention (including demand reduction), Protection of victims, and Prosecution of traffickers. A fourth P, Partnership, is also a critical element in the majority of our programs.”

Organization Name

Has an excellent resource list of curricula (with lesson plans) that have already been developed.

Organization Name

Led a study focused on awareness.

XVII. City, County, and Regional Coalitions in Iowa

Call to report suspicious activity or concerns. The national hotline will in-turn inform the Iowa DPS Office to Combat Human Trafficking.

Helpline Phone
Helpline Text Service
Text “HELP” to BeFree (233733)

Headquartered in Ames, Iowa: The Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking & Slavery (NAHT) is Iowa’s first and only statewide volunteer organization devoted exclusively to ending trafficking in all its forms. The Iowa NAHT is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is overseen by a board of Directors (20 members) from across Iowa. There are no employees and the Iowa NAHT does not provide direct services to victims or survivors. The NAHT does not receive state funding and operates on private donations. The network’s website is the go-to place for Iowa human trafficking information, training, and volunteer opportunities. You can subscribe to receive a twice-monthly email blog post by going to the contact tab on the website.

Four statewide projects:

- Hotel/Motel Employee Training & Awareness
- Rescue Sticker Distribution and Awareness Project
- Anti-Trafficking Massage Business Project
- Demand An End Project

Network’s Mission: To coordinate Iowa’s solution to end human trafficking and slavery through coalition building, raising awareness, and promoting education and advocacy. To end human trafficking in all its forms through:

- Providing a platform for collaboration between state and local agencies
- Advocating for effective investigation, rescue, and prosecution
- Leading and coordinating public policy and legislative efforts
- Strengthening collaboration between regional groups, nonprofits, law enforcement, faith communities, and community service providers
- Raising awareness and promoting education and training
- Advocating for expansion of survivor services and best practice

Contact
Dr. George Belitsos, Board Chair
Organization Name

The Iowa NAHT is providing Rescue Stickers statewide with both the national and Iowa human trafficking hotline numbers. The stickers are primarily placed in convenience stores, transportation centers, hotels, truck stops, etc., always with the permission of the management. As of January 1st, 2020, 10,000 stickers have been posted by volunteers and advocates in Iowa. As of April 1, 2020, the NAHT now has a Spanish-language Rescue Sticker. If you or your organization would like to volunteer to distribute Rescue Stickers please visit our Iowa Brochures and Posters page, scroll down, and click on the Volunteer Distribution and Posting Instructions document.


English Language Version
English Language Version

Spanish Language Version
Spanish Language Version
Organization Name

Protect with a philosophy. “An educated child is a protected child.”

Organization Name

The Department of Justice estimates that there are 300,000 children at risk of being trafficked into sexual slavery in the U.S. In the first episode of A Path Appears, we meet the survivors behind these numbers.

A21

Organization Name

A21 is an international anti-trafficking non-profit organization of modern day abolitionists. Their mission is to free slaves and disrupt the demand. A21 has 17 locations across the globe including: Australia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and four sites in the United States.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association has launched a national campaign to get all hotel and motel employees trained nationwide. On August 13th, 2019, the “No Room For Trafficking” Campaign was kicked off with a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa led by Chip Rodgers, the CEO of the AHLA.

The Network has discovered a publication entitled “Anti-Trafficking Review Journal”. The April 2021 issue focuses on Trafficking in Minors, and is 164 pages. The authors are from across the world. The 10 articles in this latest issue are from around the globe. The journal is published quarterly, and the September 2021 issue will focus on Anti-Trafficking Education.

Organization Name

Any Kid Anywhere: Iowa Sex Trafficking Survivor Stories is an excellent DVD produced and distributed by Braking Traffik. The NAHT also loans out copies of the DVD. This is a short, but effective, 17 minute interview with three Iowa female survivors who were lured into sex trafficking while in their teens. Anyone who doubts that Iowa youth are being trafficked needs to watch this DVD. The true accounts of survival send a message of hope and provide a sobering cautionary tale that may help other Iowa youth avoid victimization.

Contact
Contact NAHT to borrow the DVD

ACAMS is the largest international membership organization for Anti-Financial Crime Professionals. Recently, ACAMS and the FAST initiative teamed up and developed a free course to help fight modern slavery and human trafficking. The course is self-paced and online. Once you complete the course and take a test you will receive a training certificate. This course will show you new ways to identify financial footprints of modern slavery through transactions analysis, red flags, and key indicators.

Organization Name

An Iowa-based group that has partnered with an Ethiopian nonprofit that rescues and provides a home for children rescued from trafficking. The children produce beautiful scarves which are sold in Iowa through Beza Threads.

Organization Name

Bikers Against Trafficking attempt to educate motorcycle enthusiasts to recognize and report suspicions of human trafficking. Their goal is awareness and education.

Provide education and training and database creation to track at-risk kids making contact with members of the MDT teams showing human trafficking indicators.

Contact
Nikki Romer, Forensic Interviewer
Organization Name

They have courses and curriculum that can be downloaded free in 12 languages. More than 1,000 organizations and individuals in 65 countries have registered to download this powerful prevention program. Willing to translate into other languages.

Headquartered in Davenport, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of both labor and sex trafficking covering Region 6 (SE Iowa) of the crime victim’s area map.

Service Description: Braking Traffik/Family Resources provides services as the victim needs them (trauma-informed), including housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy, while collaborating with law enforcement and other community agencies; training and public awareness around trafficking issues; and safety and well-being of victims.

Service Area: Clinton, Jackson, Louisa, Muscatine, and Scott, but will consider referrals from anywhere in eastern Iowa.

Description of Grant Funded Services:
Located in Davenport. Provides comprehensive services to victims of sex and labor trafficking. Trauma-informed services include housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy, and resources and referrals. Advocates are mobile and meet survivors where they are. Training and public awareness are also offered.

Contact
Alyse Hardin
Organization Address
Office Locations:
- 2800 Eastern Avenue, Davenport, Iowa 52803 // Phone: (563)468-2384
- 1521 47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois 61265 // Phone: (309)797-6534
- 801 Oregon Street Unit 4, Muscatine, Iowa 52761 // Phone: (563)263-0067
- 240 North Bluff Boulevard, Clinton, Iowa 52732 // Phone: (563)242-0887
Helpline Phone
Additional Contact
Ali Brokaw
Additional Email

BEST was created to keep children and vulnerable people safe from human traffickers. BEST raises awareness about how employers can help stop human trafficking. BEST consults on best practices and provides model policies for employers. BEST trains employees to implement best practices and stop exploitation before it happens. BEST enables employers to provide jobs for survivors of trafficking and people considered at-risk.

Organization Name

Description of Grant Funded Services:
Located in Council Bluffs. Provides legal and medical advocacy; crisis counseling; groups and classes; safety planning; housing and economic advocacy; and shelter.

Service Area:
Audubon, Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby Counties

Helpline Phone
Organization Name

With offices in Des Moines, Iowa City, and Ames, this law firm has extensive experience representing minority defendants, particularly those who speak only Chinese, who are victims of human trafficking. The firm is recognized for its immigration services.

Organization Address
2213 Grand Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50312

A collaboration of 11 pioneering cities committed to combating sex trafficking by reducing the demand for buying sex by 20 percent in two years.

Organization Name

Based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa: A 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides services based on our three pillars:

Awareness: Chains Interrupted provides trained speakers to present their 12 (and growing!) educational programs which include:

  • Awareness/Action (information on human trafficking for the general public)
  • General Business
  • Hotel/Motel
  • Financial Industry
  • School
  • Medical Professional
  • Mental Health Professional
  • Law Enforcement/Corrections
  • Faith Community
  • Church Safety Team
  • Trauma-Informed Care
  • Technology

The “UnChained Coalition” is a group of community members and organizations working together to identify and address the gaps that exist in community services for those victimized by human trafficking.

To schedule a speaker or become involved with the coalition, visit their website www.ChainsInterrupted.com, call the office at 319-364-0222 or email Info@chainsinterrupted.com.

Prevention: Chains Interrupted has a prevention education program (especially for vulnerable youth) and a survivor mentorship program for youth being groomed into human trafficking.

Description of Grant Funded Services:

Survivor Advocacy: Our “Beauty from Ashes Program” offers a variety of support services, including urgent care and restoration services. We offer workshops for those wanting to work through issues surrounding being a survivor of human trafficking while living in the community. Our Harbor Home is a low supervision restoration program for adult women who have been victimized by human trafficking. Please call our intake line for information on/ referral to the workshops or Harbor Home (319) 206-4417.

Service Area:
Benton, Black Hawk, Buchanan, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn, and Washington Counties

Contact
Teresa Davidson, President, Chains Interrupted and Anti-Human Trafficking Coordinator at Mercy Medical Center
Organization Address
P.O. Box 583
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406
Helpline Phone
Additional Contact
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone
Organization Name

Learn the shocking true story of two teen girls tricked by traffickers. Brianna, 18, was a star student, cheerleader and waitress eager to break out of her small town to attend college in the big city. Lacy, 13, enjoyed church and school but struggled to help care for her siblings while her stepfather was deployed and mother worked to support the family. Brianna and Lacy share how traffickers used manipulation to lure them into the world of sex trafficking.

Organization Name

The center supports the statewide efforts of the Iowa NAHT and is listed as an ally. The Sisters began their fight against human trafficking in 2015, and now lead the Tri-State Coalition Against Trafficking. In September of 2018, they launched the Eastern Iowa Hotel/Motel Project Against Human Trafficking.

(within the Attorney General’s Office)

Contact
Jacqueline White, Training Coordinator, Victim Assistance Section
Additional Phone

This organization’s mission is to cultivate a safe, informed, and empowered community for individuals with any type of hearing loss by providing culturally competent and fully accessible services, advocacy, and education.

Contact
Jennifer Upah-Kyes, Executive Director
Helpline Phone

For reports of suspected child sex trafficking.

Helpline Phone
Organization Name

Located in Des Moines, Iowa: Restoration home and programs for survivors of sex trafficking. Statewide referrals accepted. Programs include:

DH Restoration – Long term residential housing for women (18+) who are willing to commit to sobriety and participate in the work toward healing. The residential program is designed to teach new ways of thinking and believing about life and the world around them to create better outcomes in the future.

DH Transitions – This program is designed for participants who have completed the residential program to gradually take on more personal responsibility as they continue to gain confidence and achieve goals. Each transition subsidy is geared to the specific needs of the participant and is designed to help them reach successful independence.

DH Front Porch – Designed to provide immediate safety and long-term housing solutions to all survivor profiles (boys/men 18+, gender non-binary, adults with custody of their minor children).

Contact
Kellie Markey, Founder & Executive Director
Organization Name

A global network of organizations working to end child prostitution, child pornography, and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

Organization Name

Includes a link to “A Social Message on Commercial Sexual Exploitation.” It also has many links to human trafficking resources, which includes, among other things, a six session Lenten Bible Study on Trafficking and a seven session program designed for young people.

The End Slavery Now Slave-Free Buying guide is meant to introduce customers to companies and brands that address slavery, forced labor, and human trafficking in their supply chain.

Legal services provided by a two-year fellowship (7/2018 – 6/2020) serving only victims of labor or sex trafficking in Iowa. There are no income requirements to qualify for legal services. The fellowship serves adult and minor victims, citizens and non-citizens statewide.

Contact
Lauren Camp, Justice Corps Attorney
Organization Name

The mission of Fairtrade International is to connect disadvantaged producers and consumers, promote fairer trading conditions and empower producers to combat poverty, strengthen their position and take more control over their lives.

Fairtrade International believes that trade can be a fundamental driver of poverty reduction and greater sustainable development, but only if it is managed for that purpose, with greater equity and transparency than is currently the norm. They believe that people can overcome disadvantage and marginalization if they are empowered to take more control over their work and their lives, if they are better organized, resourced and supported, and can secure access to mainstream markets under fair trading conditions.

Organization Name

Lists quite a number of universities and high schools participating in a student awareness program.

Organization Name

Located near Pella, Iowa: Long term faith-based Restoration Home (two-year program) for girls 12-17 years of age (and 18-year-old students still in high school) who are survivors of sex trafficking. As of June 2020, Freedom House also serves young women who are survivors of labor trafficking. This long-term restoration home has 4 beds and is licensed by the Iowa Department of Human Services for service to minors is located in the Pella area. Their services include: an initial call, filling out our referral packet, their committee approving the participant, and a face-to-face meeting with required documents and signatures. Freedom House provides opportunities for medical care, counseling, life skills, education, and healing. They are staffed with house moms (12-hour shifts) and a social worker. They are not a crisis center.

Contact
Jennifer Attema, Founder & Executive Director
Additional Contact
Intake Phone Number
Additional Phone

Freedom Network USA claims to be the largest and most comprehensive national coalition of those serving human trafficking survivors in the United States. This is a professional membership organization and charges $150 for individual memberships and $300 for organizational memberships. Members are asked to commit to working with other providers to create a strong and unified voice that is informed by survivors that they serve in order to influence federal and state policy and provide training and technical assistance.

Organization Name

The world’s largest community dedicated to ending human trafficking and modern slavery. They mobilize by engaging the public stakeholders in many different countries. They equip millions of supporters with awareness, education, and ways to take action that drives real change.

Organization Name

A fair trade organization whose craftspeople are survivors of sex trafficking. They make jute bags and organic cotton tee shirts.

Organization Name

Headquartered in Waverly, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of both labor and sex trafficking covering Region 3 (NE Iowa) of the crime victim’s area map.

Service Description: Friends of the Family provides services as the victim needs them (trauma-informed) that could include housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy while collaborating with community partners; training and public awareness around trafficking issues and safety and well-being of victims. The agency opened a location in Postville Iowa in December 2016.

The agency also provides mobile advocacy and goes to where the victims are located – primarily serving victims in the following counties: Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Howard, Jones, Linn, and Winneshiek.

Description of Grant Funded Services:
Located in Waverly. Provides comprehensive services to victims of sex and labor trafficking. Trauma-informed services include relocation; safety planning; shelter; counseling; medical, legal, and general advocacy; resources and referrals; crisis intervention, and support groups. Advocates are mobile and meet survivors where they are. Training and public awareness are also offered.

Service Area:
Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Howard, Jones, Linn, and Winneshiek Counties

Contact
Karen Siler, Human Trafficking Services Manager
Organization Address
PO Box 784
Waverly, Iowa 50677
Helpline Phone
Organization Name

This restoration center is in central Iowa. This faith-based 501(c)3 nonprofit program provides safe housing, restorative services, and transitional living for four sexually exploited women and their children (up to age 4). The newly remodeled facility has the potential to expand to serve up to eight women.

Contact
Brenda Long, Founder & Executive Director
Additional Contact
Lauren Gildersleeve, Development Director
Additional Phone

By Rachel Lloyd. “Rachel Lloyd’s riveting survivor story is the true tale of her hard-won escape from the commercial sex industry and her bold founding of GEMS, New York City’s Girls Education and Mentoring Service, to help countless other young girls escape ‘the life'” – Amazon.

The Global Slavery Index is a project of the Minderoo Foundation which is based in Australia. They have a team of over 25 employees across seven locations and the Slavery Index is one of 7 major global initiatives. The Global Index is developed by the Walk Free team. They also have an investor tool kit (see link below). This tool kit is designed to help businesses and investors take action to improve human rights standards in their supply chains and combat forced labor, human trafficking, and other forms of modern slavery. In March 2020, the Minderoo Foundation conducted a study entitled “Combatting Human Trafficking since Palermo: What Do We Know about What Works?”, in which they evaluate projects and outcomes. Here is a link to the journal article: Human Trafficking “What Works” Study. This is an excellent resource.

Organization Name

Gridshock is a documentary exposing the hidden and disturbing reality behind sex trafficking in Iowa and the often-overlooked reality about why the industry thrives—because there is a demand for it. Vanessa McNeal’s film features survivors of sex trafficking, local and federal law enforcement, advocates, politicians, and a recovering sex addict. What you think you know about sex trafficking will be challenged. Gridshock is now available online everywhere! This is the fourth, and most recent film by filmmaker Vanessa McNeal. Donations of $45,000 funded this 55 minute film. Vanessa recently received the 2019 Outstanding Human Trafficking Service Award from the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery. The award was presented by Governor Kim Reynolds on January 17, 2019 on behalf of the Iowa NAHT.

HEAL Trafficking is an organization of multidisciplinary professionals and over 3,000 survivors in 35 countries dedicated to ending human trafficking and supporting its survivors from a public health perspective. You may join the network if you are a survivor or a professional healthcare worker. There is no fee for becoming a member. They have an excellent e-newsletter and training. Their mission is to globalize a shift in anti-trafficking services toward approaches rooted in public health and trauma-informed care.

TOURISM CHILD PROTECTION CODE OF CONDUCT (The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism) (www.thecode.org) (www.ecpatusa.org/code)

For articles on what the hospitality industry is doing to fight human trafficking, search for “human trafficking” at: http://www.travelweekly.com

Organization Name

Hidden in the Heartland is a 14-minute film created by students in the Department of Journalism and Communication at Wartburg College for their capstone project. The film explores sex-trafficking in Iowa.

Headquartered in Manchester, England: This global organization, which operates on four continents, employs a strategy based on preventing exploitation, rescuing victims, restoring lives, and reforming society.

Contact
Ed LeMieux, Executive Director
Organization Address
U.S. Office:
P.O. Box 280365
Nashville, TN 37228

The hospitality industry has a code of conduct for the protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism.

Organization Name

The HTC is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization committed to using academic rigor and transparency, sound methodology, and reliable data to understand forced labor and human trafficking. Their aim is to provide research that improves inter-organizational cooperation and accountability, influences anti-trafficking policy, and raises public awareness about the problem. They also partner with academics, students, legislators, NGOs, and international organizations to provide the public balanced information about human trafficking. The HTC is housed within the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and is comprised of M.A. candidates and faculty. This research center has a series on forced labor and fair trade standards.

Organization Name

This documentary follows the journey of young survivors who were advertised on Backpage.com as their families engage in a legal battle not only with Backpage but with judges, special interest groups, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, an internet freedom law that provides a safe haven for website publishers to advertise underage girls for sex.

Organization Name

This is an unvarnished and grim look at the world of sex trafficking. This film is a fictional description of one young girl’s experience. The producers interviewed many different trafficking victims and the main character in the film, Layla, is a composite of those victims. I Am Still Here is available on Amazon Prime.

Organization Name

In Our Backyard is a nonprofit based in Central Oregon that links arms across America in the fight against trafficking. Their focus is prevention and education, and they have collaborated with many states by providing training for social service agencies, schools, faith communities, etc. IOB believes that awareness is the critical first step in ending human trafficking.

By the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

This 70-page book in PDF format serves as a guide to fight human trafficking. The Table of Contents contains the Guiding Principles passed by the UN and sections such as prosecution, protection/assistance, prevention, national coordination/cooperation, and international coordination/cooperation. Link: https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Framework_for_Action_TIP.pdf

The Iowa DPS has issued its 2020 annual report. They include some statistics in the annual report from the national hotline and from Iowa law enforcement agencies. 

DPS has also developed a human trafficking page on their website, which includes a link to the annual report.

Funded to develop and air statewide PSA campaign (via radio, satellite radio, and social media) instructing Iowa motorists, truck drivers, and bus drivers to recognize and call appropriate human trafficking hotlines and victim services agencies. The Iowa Truckers Against Trafficking have become a model for the rest of the country.

Truckers Against Trafficking is a leader in promoting the difference an individual can make in fighting human trafficking and in mobilizing an industry. It has an excellent video and provides trainings for truck and bus drivers. The organization also trains Iowa truck stops to make sure employees are aware of what to look for and what to do if they spot signs of trafficking.

Contact
Chief Dave Lorenzen
Organization Name

(a program of YSS)
Located in Des Moines, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of crime including sex trafficking survivors between ages 18 to 21 for males and 18 to 24 for females including those who are pregnant and parenting.

Contact
Ashley Mitchell or Elizabeth Patten

The Iowa LEA provides onsite training for newly hired law enforcement officers on how to recognize and investigate trafficking. The LEA also provides off site training upon request to local police and sheriff’s departments as well as anti-trafficking community groups.

Organization Address
P.O. Box 130
Camp Dodge, Johnston, IA 50131

The Iowa NAHT asks anti-trafficking coalitions and advocates to approach local law enforcement and city councils to pass ordinances to regulate local massage businesses. Nationwide, there are over 9000 illicit businesses practicing under the guise of massage therapy. Ordinances allow law enforcement to ensure that there are no illicit activities such as prostitution and trafficking in local massage parlors.

Contact
Dr. George Belitsos

This statewide project is a joint venture of the Iowa NAHT and the Nebraska Coalition on Human Trafficking. The Hotel/Motel Employee Training Project recruits community volunteers to attend a three hour Train the Trainers program. Each trained volunteer is asked to provide training to a minimum of three hotels/motels. Four regional anti-trafficking coalitions lead local project efforts covering all sections of Iowa with the exception of Southern Iowa.

Contact
Dr. George Belitsos
Organization Name

The primary focus of this program is to prevent LGBTQ+ youth from being groomed by online traffickers. Anti-trafficking advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are utilized to increase awareness of this issue. Information about educational events is provided as well. Iowa Safe Schools also hands out Specialized Pride Packs that focus on human trafficking at Iowa Pride Events.

Contact
Nate Monson
Organization Name

The Just Ask Prevention Project works to educate youth and adults about the signs of human trafficking to keep our teenagers safe. We Educate. We Prevent. We Intervene. Materials available in French, Spanish, Dutch as well as English.

Organization Name

We can’t change the world with only ideas in our minds; we need conviction in our hearts to fight trafficking. Hopelessness is the enemy of justice. Just Mercy can be found on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

The mission of LUNA is to empower, educate, and advocate for victims/survivors of sex and labor trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault, so that they may build futures free from violence and exploitation. Trafficking and domestic violence impact all communities and are a serious problem. However, each community is unique and has different barriers. The staff at LUNA are knowledgeable on the barriers that Latinx survivors face, including legal status, language, and lack of resources. LUNA works alongside the survivor to educate them on the various systems (legal, court, law enforcement, etc) and empower them to make their own decisions about their healing process using a client centered and trauma informed approach.

Contact
Melissa Cano-Zelaya, Executive Director
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone

Libertas is a 361-page educational tool which delivers innovative ways to fight modern slavery. This book promotes systematic prevention strategies with work plans and educational programs that can be used with school-aged children. The book believes that education can play a key role in the eradication of modern slavery. These programs have already been implemented in schools, corporations, and prisons.

Organization Name

Located in Sioux City, Iowa: A safe house providing 24/7 restoration and healing support for adult female survivors of sex trafficking. Lila Mae’s House has a capacity for 7 women and is open for referrals for women 18+ who have been domestically sex trafficked.

Contact
Cheryl Hansen, Executive Director
Organization Address
PO Box 1281
Sioux City, IA 51102
Organization Name

The mission of Love146 is to end child trafficking and exploitation worldwide. They provide prevention and education services along with their survivor care program.

Organization Address
U.S. Address:
P.O. Box 8266
New Haven, CT 06530
Website

Monsoon’s mission is to end all forms of gender-based violence and build healthy communities through transformative justice and social change. The organization functions as a resource, advocate, and support for members of Iowa’s API population affected by domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking by providing crisis advocacy; individual and group counseling; assistance involving law enforcement; legal advocacy; court accompaniment; medical suport and advocacy; assistance with housing, education, employment and government benefit applications; information and referrals; a community resource center; community outreach and education; youth internships; and youth programming.

Contact
Mira Yousef, Executive Director
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone

The nation’s clearinghouse and comprehensive reporting center for missing children and issues related to the prevention of and recovery from child victimization.

Internet Safety Programs:
www.netSmartz.org
www.netSmartzkids.org

June is Internet Safety Month.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health crisis of pornography. As the thread of pornography in the web of sexual exploitation is systemically overlooked by society, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has prominently advanced this issue as a central pillar of its projects in order to promote more holistic solutions.

Nefarious exposes the nightmare of sex slavery as experienced by hundreds of thousands daily, through the eyes of both the enslaved and their traffickers. Nefarious features expert analysis from international humanitarian leaders, and captures the gripping and triumphant testimonies of survivors in order to galvanize hope and vision.

Headquartered in Mason City, Iowa: Provides comprehensive services to victims of both labor and sex trafficking covering a portion of Region 2 (North Central Iowa) of the crime victim’s area map.

Service Description: The agency provides services as the victim needs them (trauma- informed) that could include housing, counseling, medical and court advocacy while collaborating with law enforcement and other community agencies; training and public awareness around trafficking issues; and safety and well-being of victims.

The agency provides mobile advocacy and goes to where the victims are located – primarily serving victims in the following counties: Butler, Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Humboldt, Kossuth, Mitchell, Webster, Winnebago, Worth, and Wright.

Contact
Mary Ingham
Organization Address
PO Box 656
Mason City, Iowa 50402

NISAA African Family Service’s mission is to end sex and labor trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault in African Immigrant and Refugee communities by promoting the social, economic, and political self-determination of all women. The organization seeks to build healthy communities through transformative justice and social change.

Contact
Hibo Jama, Executive Director
Helpline Phone
Additional Phone
Organization Name

Filmed on five continents, in a dozen countries, Not My Life takes viewers into a world where millions of children are exploited, every day, through and astonishing array of practices including forced labor, domestic servitude, begging, sex tourism, sexual violence, and child soldiering.

(within the Iowa Department of Public Safety)

Contact
Patrick Waymmire, Director of Investigative Operations
Additional Phone
Organization Name

The White Umbrella by Mary Frances Bowely, The Natashas and the Johns, by Victor Malarek, Your Brain on Porn by Gary Wilson, Stretched Beyond Measure—When the Angels Were Crying by Dorsey Jones.

Organization Name

Caged No More, Finding Home, Your Photo Fate on YouTube by Zhao.

By Rachel Moran, a woman who became homeless at age 14. She was driven into prostitution to survive. Moran writes about the psychological damage and estrangement from one’s body that is experienced as a result of sex trafficking. She did not escape until age 22.

This organization produces public service announcements and radio ads that are broadcast nationally. They are focused on keeping children safe, especially from internet traffickers. The key to their platform is the students who through peer to peer communications are empowered to stop the predator in their own environment.
Students have a voice and PACT provides them a platform to bring an end to child trafficking by raising awareness, preventing victimization, and reducing demand.

The Partnership for a Healthy Iowa offers free educational resources developed under the supervision of Iowa educators and Iowa State University as part of the Iowa Digital Literacy and Wellness project.

Contact
Peter Komendowski, Executive Director
Instagram
@ahealthyiowa
Organization Name

The Polaris Project operates the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) and its hotline which is used throughout the United States as the central number to call for help, leave tips, and get information on human trafficking. Their resources include numerous online trainings and print information on human trafficking for individuals and various groups (including law enforcement), legislative advocacy (state and national), case information, and more, all of which can be found at traffickingresourcecenter.org.

Organization Name

Has resources, including “Seven Days of Prayer and Action to End Human Trafficking” and a Red Hand Project addressing the problem of Child Soldiers.

Organization Name

Works at preventing sex trafficking in North and South America. Training materials are available.

Organization Name

Offers free bags of red sand for groups or individuals to use to fill in cracks in sidewalks or parking lots to remind people of the most vulnerable among us who may become victims of human trafficking, and that they aren’t to be walked on or let to fall through the cracks. Other artistic installations are also encouraged.

By Linda Smith and Cindy Coloma. “…Author Linda Smith brings to life characters based on real stories and interviews with teen survivors. Meet Lacy and Star as they reveal the underbelly of our country’s commercial sex trade. Get to know the men who sell them, and the ones who buy them. Let Renting Lacy draw you into the lives of these young girls as they struggle to survive each night, watching their childhood hopes and dreams slip away in the darkness…” – Amazon.

RAGAS raises awareness that millions are held captive and illegally forced to work for commercial gain. The organization encourages its communities to participate in local education projects which help to prevent vulnerable children, youth, and adults from becoming modern day slaves. Its board leaders are Rotarians in Australia, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, The Philippines, The United Kingdom, and The United States.

Contact
Iowa Contact Information: Dr. George Belitsos, Iowa RAGAS Coordinator
Organization Name

Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa: A free statewide address confidentiality program for survivors of trafficking and other violent crimes. This service to trafficking survivors is administered by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.

Service Description: Safe at Home provides a substitute legal address that survivors can use in place of their actual, physical address. The Safe at Home program forwards the mail to the survivors’ actual address. Program participants are also able to vote via absentee ballot without disclosing their physical address in the statewide voter registration system. The intent of the program is to keep survivors’ physical addresses safe. It is open to Iowa residents.

Contact
Melanie Shellenberger, Program Administrator
Organization Address
PO Box 959
Des Moines, IA 50304

Started by Theresa Flores, a trafficking survivor, S.O.A.P. has community volunteers provide bars of soap with the human trafficking hotline number on the label, to motels/hotels with a large risk of trafficking, especially during certain large sporting events.

Organization Name

Provides crafts from around the world for groups and individuals. Some are made by survivors of human trafficking (search for human trafficking on the website).

Organization Name

Shared Hope provides major national anti-trafficking conferences and training. The organization strives to prevent the conditions that foster sex trafficking, to restore victims of sex slavery, and to bring justice to vulnerable women and children. They support 14 freedom and restoration projects in the United States and around the world. Their demand reduction effort is found at sharedhope.org/join-the-cause.

Organization Name

Shows some of the things you may own that have been produced by forced labor.

Organization Name

Spread Your Wings, LLC “Saving Lives, Empowering Youth.”

Based in Ankeny, IA

Spread Your Wings is a 501c (3) organization that has the mission to be proactive, empowering, and preventative to save youth from “bad guys/women.”

The main program is S.A.V.E. Kids. (Self Defense Against Violence & Exploitation.) The program focuses on empowering students between ages 9-14 to defend, prevent, and save themselves from abduction, all types of violence, exploitation, and human trafficking. 2-hour Classes are included as part of the regular educational curriculum. Free to schools and students.

We not only teach physical self-defense skills but educate students on every aspect of abduction, trafficking and exploitation: we follow up with fifteen 5-minute weekly lessons that include a review of safety awareness strategies, reminders of the tricks and lures used by the bad guys, a self-defense skill to practice, and empowerment strategies. We help students become courageous, improve their self-esteem, and realize their value and worth.

Spread Your Wings also has a Youth Center offering programs for youth recovering from trauma, families dealing with violence between children/ bullying, empowerment camps for teens, and
programming to help improve the mental health of youth ages 5-18 years old.

We also offer speaker services.

Service Area: Iowa

Contact: Amy Ratekin, Founder/Executive Director Spread Your Wings, LLC

Organization Address/YOUTH CENTER ADDRESS:
10200 NE Frisk Dr Ankeny, IA 50023
Ankeny, Iowa 50021

Phone: (515) 202-5287

Email:  amy@iowaspirittkd.com

Website: https://spreadurwings.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spreadyourwingsyouth

Contact
Amy Ratekin
Organization Name

Provides a website with links to resources focused on educators.

Organization Name

Includes youth program development guidance.

Organization Name

Trafficking victims and survivors are assisted 24/7.

Helpline Phone
Helpline Text Service
Text "iowahelp" to 20121

All parents face challenges in keeping their children safe online. However, single parents must work twice as hard to keep their households running, which can make internet safety a difficult priority to keep while juggling other parental duties. This is a guide to help single parents.

Through the program known as Teens Against Human Trafficking (TAHT), YSS provided in school—youth to youth—educational and referral opportunities. TAHT now has downloadable resources at their website for students to access.

YSS continues to provide statewide Achieving Maximum Potential (AMP) as well Iowa Foster Care Youth Councils with anti-trafficking education, information, and awareness. YSS continues to provide awareness programming to community groups and law enforcement at conferences.

Contact
Ruth Buckels, AMP and Iowa Foster Care Youth Council Statewide Coordinator
Additional Contact
Terri Bailey, Assistant AMP Coordinator
Additional Email
Organization Name

Focused on trafficking, with links to other sources online.

Organization Name

By Dan Barry. In 2009 in Atalissa, Iowa, a group of mentally disabled men were labor trafficked in a turkey processing plant. In 2013, a jury awarded the victims 240 million dollars as a result of the charges brought against Henry’s Turkey Service.

The founder and driving force behind Break the Cycle is Mark “Rocky” Vest, who received an Outstanding Anti-Trafficking Service Award from the NAHT on January 16th, 2020. Held annually in Iowa and raises funds to fight human trafficking. Last year, the 200 mile one day bike ride raised nearly $100,000. Since the first Break the Cycle 200 ride in 2011, over $750,000 has been raised and donated to nonprofit prevention projects, rescue services, and survivor restoration programs.

Organization Name

The mission of The Freedom Fund is to mobilise the knowledge, capital and will needed to end slavery. The organization identifies and invests in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate modern slavery in the countries and sectors where it is most prevalent. Partnering with visionary investors, governments, anti-slavery organisations and those at risk of exploitation, The Freedom Fund tackles the systems that allow slavery to persist and thrive. Working together, they protect vulnerable populations, liberate and reintegrate those enslaved and prosecute those responsible.

Organization Name

By Rena Olsen, an Iowa author. “In this powerful psychological suspense debut, when a woman’s life is shattered, she is faced with a devastating question: What if everything she thought was normal and good and true… wasn’t?” – Amazon.

Organization Name

Works to help consumers become aware of the conditions of garment workers around the world and to help them take personal and social actions.

Headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia: The Human Trafficking Legal Center (HT Legal) empowers courageous survivors of labor and sex trafficking to seek justice. The center provides human trafficking survivors who seek legal representation with access to highly-skilled, pro bono attorneys. HT Legal spearheads national efforts to hold human traffickers accountable for their crimes and raise awareness of victims’ rights. The center works to obtain criminal convictions, criminal restitution, and civil judgments against traffickers. It also conducts groundbreaking research on trafficking and mandatory criminal restitution, informing public policy and influencing federal reform. With pro bono legal assistance, trafficking survivors can rebuild their lives.

Contact
Martina Vandenberg, National Director

Publishes excellent reports and fact sheets. Some recent reports include:

Domestic Violence and Trafficking Fact Sheet: www.htlegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Human-Trafficking-and-Domestic-Violence

Human Trafficking and Health Care Professionals Fact Sheet: www.htlegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Medical-Fact-Sheet-Human-Trafficking

Trafficking of Persons with Disabilities Fact Sheet: www.htlegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Trafficking-of-Persons-with-Disabilities

Mandatory Restitution and Human Trafficking: http://www.htlegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/mandatory.pdf

Organization Name

The NO Project is an award-winning global educational anti-slavery campaign that specifically targets youth awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking through film, music, art, dance, theater, journalism, education, and social media. Their approach is based on the principle that education includes global citizenship, ethical decision-making, and protection. The NO Project offers free downloadable teaching material on human trafficking and modern slavery. This material is primarily for older teens. The NO Project values the power and skills of young people to join the fight against trafficking.

Website
Organization Name

The Prevention Project™ program believes that in order to eradicate human trafficking, the selling of human beings for profit, we must educate young people on the lures of trafficking and invest in character and leadership development. The Prevention Project curriculum not only prevents human trafficking, but also equips student leaders to bring a lasting change for our schools, communities, and beyond.

Organization Name

This nonprofit organization provides prevention education to schools and communities in Iowa. The education program empowers youth to value themselves and others and protect themselves and others from trafficking and social media dangers. They also empower adults to protect youth in these same areas.

Contact Information: Stephanie Olson
Office Phone: (402) 521-3080
Additional Phone
Organization Name

Thorn is a nonprofit anti-trafficking organization founded by actor and Iowa native Ashton Kutcher. The organization has been a leader in the worldwide fight against human trafficking since its founding in 2011. Kutcher’s foundation has developed software known as “Spotlight” which is being used by many urban police departments to uncover human trafficking on the internet. Spotlight is also utilized by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Thorn is applauded as the “Digital Defender of Children.”

Organization Name

Meet the pimps, the johns, the police, the parents, and the victims of America's thriving sex trade in Tricked, a comprehensive documentary that uncovers America's dirty secret.

“Foreign assistance targets both sex trafficking and labour trafficking through implementation of the “3P” paradigm of Prevention (including demand reduction), Protection of victims, and Prosecution of traffickers. A fourth P, Partnership, is also a critical element in the majority of our programs.”

This organization serves refugees and immigrants statewide with a vast array of services. Major federal grant funding provides an attorney and direct service case manager to immigrants and refugees who have been sex or labor trafficked. The Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Service (TAPS) has staff with extensive victim-centered advocacy experience.

Contact
Jessie Johnson, TAPS Outreach Coordinator
Organization Address
1200 University Avenue, Suite 205
Des Moines, IA 50314
Additional Contact
Kerri True-Funk, Executive Director
Additional Phone
Additional Email

Produces training materials related to human trafficking for health care and social service providers, and law enforcement officers. They provide a series of webinars for health care providers, behavioral health professionals and social workers called SOAR.

Their anti-human trafficking program is called the Blue Campaign. DHS is responsible for investigating human trafficking and protecting victims. They also provide some immigration relief to foreign born victims of human trafficking. They coordinate human trafficking efforts with other government agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Their training materials include a large number of resources for law enforcement.

Provides a variety of information on Child labor and Forced labor, including a free app for iPhones and Androids called “Comply Chain” which provides businesses with tools for Labor Compliance in Global Supply Chains. A similar online tool can be found at: www.dol.gov/ilab/complychain/.

Provides a List of “Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor:" www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/pdf/TVPRA_Report2014.pdf

The TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Office leads the Department’s global efforts to combat human trafficking through the prosecution of traffickers, the protection of victims, and the prevention of human trafficking by: objectively analyzing government efforts and identifying global trends, engaging in and supporting strategic bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, targeting foreign assistance to build sustainable capacity of governments and civil society, advancing the coordination of federal anti-trafficking policies across agencies, managing and leveraging operational resources to achieve strategic priorities, and engaging and partnering with civil society, the private sector, and the public to advance the fight against human trafficking.

Instagram
@trafficking_in_persons_state
Twitter
@JTIP_State

Survivor engagement is a central tenet of the federal government’s approach to establishing effective anti-trafficking strategies that address prosecution, protection, and prevention. Survivors’ voices are important in shaping policy, and the federal government is committed to supporting leadership development of survivor leaders.

USIAHT is a national organization focused on ending trafficking in the United States and is dedicated to educating American citizens and legislators, disrupt sex trade, consolidate efforts for maximum effect, and partner with other organizations in this fight. They work in conjunction with federal, state, and local government officials who influence policy on ending trafficking in the United States. This is a faith-based organization that is very well known for launching its Abolitionist Project in 2020 (see link below). Their community based strategy is to end human trafficking by establishing trafficking free zones. The organization has offices in Florida, California, Texas, Nevada, and it’s headquarters in Washington D.C.

A collaborative, faith-based national network that offers education, supports access to survivor services, and engages in advocacy in an effort to eradicate modern-day slavery. It is comprised of congregations of religious women, coalitions working against human trafficking in which religious women participate, individual sisters, lay associate members of congregations, etc.

The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is the U.S. Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking. It is also the world’s most comprehensive resource of governmental anti-trafficking efforts and reflects the U.S. Government’s commitment to global leadership on this key human rights and law enforcement issue.

Report from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, Crime Victims Assistance Division.

Organization Name

Have several resources for downloading.

Offers the Become a Shepherd (Stop Human trafficking and Exploitation, Protect and Help, Empower and Restore Dignity) toolkit online which can be used in parishes and faith groups. This toolkit can be ordered for free by email (see below).

USCCB MRS works primarily with international trafficking and training. The USCCB also has a St. Josephine Bakhita Prayer card. St Josephine was herself a slave.

Organization Name

Has an excellent resource list of curricula (with lesson plans) that have already been developed.

Organization Name

Led a study focused on awareness.

Organization Name

The Vera Institute has developed a Trafficking Victim Identification Tool and Guide which gives victim service providers, law enforcement, legal, healthcare, and social service providers a standard means of identifying victims of human trafficking and a tool for building trust and maintaining confidentiality.

The Victim Witness Services Unit for the United States Attorneys Office, Southern District of Iowa, provides services, support, and education to victims and witnesses of federal crimes. Staff is committed to ensuring that victims and witnesses are treated with fairness and respect and receive information and assistance for relevant services. Some of those services include notification of significant court events, referral to appropriate support services, reasonable protection from the accused, help determining and requesting restitution, and the return of property and information concerning the conviction, sentencing, imprisonment, and release of the offender.

Contact
Charlotte Kovacs, Victim Witness Specialist

By Holly Austin Smith. “In Walking Prey, advocate and former victim Holly Austin Smith shows how middle class suburban communities are fast becoming the new epicenter of sex trafficking in America. Smith speaks from experience: Without consistent positive guidance or engagement, Holly was ripe for exploitation at age fourteen. A chance encounter with an older man led her to run away from home, and she soon found herself on the streets of Atlantic City” – Amazon.

Organization Name

Located in Central Iowa: This is a Christ-centered 501(c)3 nonprofit safe house with five beds providing 24/7 restoration support for healing female adult survivors of sex trafficking. Statewide referrals accepted. They have an online referral application process on their website. Wings of Refuge is in the process of remodeling a second restoration facility that will serve as a transitional living center. This new transitional living facility will have five apartments for five female survivors.

Contact
Angi Bright, Executive Director
Organization Address
PO Box 2455
Ames, IA 50010
Twitter
@for1moregirl
Organization Name

You Can Free Us is an international human rights organization that is fighting modern slavery around the world through advocacy, rescue, and rehabilitation. The organization is based in Texas; however, it has programs throughout the world. Founded in 2010, You Can Free Us has quickly grown. They have safe houses, training centers, and intervention hubs in seven countries. Their prevention strategies are contained in a 2020 book called Libertas.

Locations in Ames, Boone, Marshalltown, Mason City, and Des Moines, Iowa: Provides sex trafficking prevention, awareness, diversion and residential services to children and youth. Identifies vulnerable youth through mobile street outreach, referral and self-disclosure and assists and ensures that young victims are safe and diverted from further exploitation.

Service Description: YSS provides emergency shelter for sex trafficked youth ages 12 to 17 in Ames and Mason City and restoration/transitional living services for those ages 18 to 24 in Ames, Marshalltown, and Des Moines (AKA Iowa Homeless Youth Centers). Transitional living program duration is up to 24 months. The transitional living program also provides housing and services to the client’s children.

Contact
Ruth Buckels, LMSW
Organization Address
420 Kellogg Avenue
Ames, IA 50010
Helpline Phone
Additional Contact
Business Office
Additional Phone